Publications

It is 2016 and it’s already the fifth time that we’ve met in Warsaw at CopyCamp. As usual, we invited authors, artists, members of the European Parliament, pirates, collecting societies, librarians, lawyers, scientists, teachers and many others who are interested in the impact of copyright and the information society. For CopyCamp 2016, we managed to gather the largest number of international guests to date, representing diverse points of view from many different parts of the world. By far the most speakers came from the Visegrad Group (V4) countries, and we’d like to make their perspectives even more visible by releasing this post-conference publication.

Each year artists and producers, European Parliament members, Pirates, collecting societies, librarians and lawyers, scientists, politicians and educators from all over the world meet in Warsaw to participate in CopyCamp, the world’s biggest international conference on the impact of copyright on the information society. All parties interested in the debate on the current shape of the copyright system discuss the future of law regulating the circulation of cultural goods on the Internet and its influence on society, science, education and art. In 2014 special attention was paid to the perspective of the Visegrad Group countries.

The post-conference publication is a subjective selection of some of the most interesting presentations given at the third edition of the CopyCamp conference.

A variety of Polish perspectives along with views from other countries highlight common aims – and restrictions that may create borders in the Internet era. In her piece, Zuzana Adamová explores the role of collective-management organizations in Slovakia, while in A Tale of Two Coprights Dimitar Dimitrov indicates how „liquid lobbying” can best utilize communication technologies in our democratic processes. Łukasz Łyczkowski’s Copyrights in Social Media shows who remains legally responsible for infringements, and Yngve Slettholm explains a licensing solution he’s helped to instigate at the National Library of Norway. Jan Sowa draws conclusions from a survey of Polish writers conducted by Fundacja Korporacja Ha!art, about e-books and copyright issues. Marcin Wilkowski focuses on born-digital heritage preservation, connecting library efforts today with ancient archetypes, Michał 'rysiek’ Woźniak considers copyleft licensing and Richard Stallman’s „four freedoms” for software (and any resources), and finally Jacek Zadrożny reveals the potential that available access technologies have for the broadest, most inclusive use of audiovisual culture – and, of course, the restrictions that copyrights can so readily impose.

The goal placed in front of the research team was to show potential legislative solutions and business models related to the functioning of copyright in the broader context of culture, society, education, public policy, and economy 25 years from now. The effect of this work is meant to initiate discussions on the future of the creation, use and sharing of cultural works.

This task – as well as any other attempt to influence the scope and level of public debate – is an ambitious challenge. In addition, reflecting on the future so distant is burdened with high risk, because the current trends can change direction; one must also allow for events that would completely change the situation. That is why we decided to use a research method called “foresight”.

How to think about distant future or how we wrote the scenarios(Tomasz Kasprzak, Martyna Woropińska)